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NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 
OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 



1. The Eastern Tinneh, f;om a MS., by BiiRXAKD R. Eoss, Esq., honorable Hudson's 
Bay Company. 

2. The Loucheuz Indians, by William L. Hardisty, Esq., honorable Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. 

3. The Kutchin tribes, by Strachan Joxes, Esq., honorable Hudson's Bay Company. 



COMMUNICATED BY GEORGE GIBRS. 
W 



The above tribes are embraced in the Athabascan group in j\[r. Gallatin's 
classitication of the Indian tribes, (Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., vol. ii,) but that name, 
according to Mr. Ross, is a foreign word, applicable only to a particular locality. 
The name of Chepewyan, given to the eastern tribes by most of the earl)' writers, 
is merely a compound Cree word relating to dress. Sir John Richardson (Boat 
Voyage through Rupert's Land) adoi)ts,and upon a more correct and philosophical 
principle, the name Tm-mh, which Mr. Ross says, though given in ;he vocabu- 
laries for "man," means rather " the people." It seems to be the apptfUatioa 
which each tribe applies to itself, other branches being distinguished by a prefix 
relating to locality, or some peculiarity of dress or appearance. Thus, while 
the Chcpewyans call themselves Tin-neh, they call the " Slaves" Tesscho-tin- 
nek, or the people of the Great river, (Mackenzie's ) 

This family, the most northern in America excepting the Eskimo, is, at the 
same time, the most widely distributed, its range extending from the shores of 
Hudson's bay to the Facific, where it is represented on Cook's inlet by the Kenai 
and other allied tribes. Several tribes, known collectively as the Tahkali, 
Tacully, or Cairiers, inhabit the upper waters of Eraser river, extending south 
to Fort Alexandria, in about latitude 52° 30'. Near the mouth of the Columbia 
two small bands, now nearly extinct, inhabited the wooded country on either side 
of the river, and others are located on the Umpqua, Rogue river, and the coast 
of southern Oregon, and on the Trinity or south fork of the Klamath, in northern 
Calitbrnia. Finally, the same race, as shown by affinity of language, appears in 
Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, under the names of Navajoes and Apaches. 
The papers mentioned at the head of this article, and which follow, all refer to 
the northern branches, but do not include those of 'he Pacific coast. 

Mr. Ross divides the northern portion of this great family into — 

I. The eastern or Tinneh tribes proper. 

II. The mountain tribes. 

III. The western, consisting, so fixr as British America is concerned, of the 
Tahkalis 

IV. The northern, including all the Kutchin or Loucheux tribes. 

It is to tlie first of these that the portion of his own notes here given refers, 
Mr. Hardisty's and Mr. Jones's relate to the last. 



304 NOTES ON THE TINKER OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

1.— THE EASTERN TINNEH.— i2o«*. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTER. 

The eastern Tinneh are of middle stature, squarely and strongly built. 
Although tall men are not uncommon in some of the tribes, the extremes in 
either direction are far from numerous. The lowest adult whom I have seen was 
four feet four inches in height, and the tallest, six feet nx inches, the fo: mer a 
Flave, and the latter a Yellow Knife. As a whole they are tolerably fleshy, and 
their weight may be averaged at 140 pounds. The crania of these people are 
very large, with a tolerably good facial angle, the forehead rather high, and the 
skull elongated towards the occiput in most cases. The females appear to have 
the largest heads, and those of both sexes are covered with a matted profusion 
of black, coarse, and straight hair. They are, generally, long bodied, witli short, 
stout limbs, but without any disproportion between the lengths of the upper and 
lower ones. The extremities are small and well-formed, the hands thick, with 
short, tapering fingers, offering a strong contrast to the narrow, long, and bony 
hands of the Crees, and resembling a good deal in this particular the Eskimo 
of the Arctic circle. The most distinguishing feature in the race is the breadth 
of their faces between the cheek bones ; this, with a high and rather narrow fore- 
head and elongated chin, gives them a pear-like appearance. They are possessed 
of considerable bodily strength, of which, as the Hudson's Bay Company em- 
ploy them as boatmen, tliere are excellent opportunities of judging. They can 
carry 200 pounds, in a strap passed over the forehead, Avithout difficulty, but they 
are, as a whole, considerably under the average of the European servants in en- 
durance and strength. 

There is no particular cast of features other than the large and high cheek 
bones. Large mouths are universal ; the teeth are white and regular, even to old 
age; the chins are commonly pointed, but cleft ones are not unusual among the 
Yellow Knives; the ut^ual description of noses are the snub and bottle, with a 
slight sprinkling of aquiline ; the earS!, generally large, are placed well up towards 
the crown of the head ; sparse mustaches and beard are sometimes seen, but 
whiskers are unknown ; the eyes are mostly of a very dark brown hazel, varied 
with lighter, but never clear tints of the same color, and with black; they are 
often placed obliquely in the head, and although there is no general rule in the 
case, 1 think this form is oftener met with among the northern than among the 
more southern tribes. The prevailing complexion may, with propriety, be said 
to be of a dirty yellowish ochre tinge, ranging from a smoky brown to a tint as 
fair as that of many half caste Europeans. The color of the skin is, in all cases, 
opaque, and its texture close and smooth In a few instances I have seen tlie 
blood through the cheeks, giving a vermilion color to that part of the face. 
Cases of corpulency, though the rule in childhood, are very rare in old age. 
The women, if anything, are uglier than the men ; of smaller stature, and in 
old age become positively hideous. The mammiB become pendulous and large, 
though they never, to my knowledge, attain the almost fabulous dimensions that 
I have heard are not uncommon among the Carrier women. 

Nature certainly does more than art for the rearing of the children of these 
people. " God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and causes them to thrive 
under numerous disadvantages. Immediately after birth, without washing, the 
infant is laid naked on a layer of moss in a bag made of leather, and lined with 
hare skins. If it be summer, the lalter are dispensed with. This bag is then 
securely laced, restraining the limbs in natural posilioms, and leaving the child 
freedom to move the head only. In this phase of its existence, it resembles 
strongly an Egyptian mummy. Cradles are never used ; but this machine, called 
a "moss bag," is an excellent adjunct to the rearing of children up to a certain 
age, and has become almost, if not universally, adopted in the families of the 



.(^y OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA 305 

^Hudson's Bay Company's employes The natives retain the use of the bag to 
a late period, say until "the child passes a year, during which time it is never 
taken out except to change the moss. To this practice, continued to such au 
age, I attribute the turned in toes and rather crooked legs of m;iny of these In- 
dians. A child is not weaned until anotlier takes its place, if the mother has 
milk to give it, and it is no unusual thing for an Indian woman of these tribes 
to suckle a chi'd three or four years old, even with a baby at her other breast 
at the time. Respecting the food of infants, the routine is as follows : If the 
mother has milk they suck so long as she yields it ; otherwise, mashed fish, 
chewed dried meat, or any other nutritious substance that can be had from a not 
very extended variety is given. A curious and superstitious custom obtains 
among the Slave, Hare, and Dogrib tribes, of not cutting the nails of female in- 
fants till they are four years of age. Their reason for this is, that if they did so 
earlier the child would, when arrived at womanhood, turn out lazy, and be un- 
able to embroider well in porcupine quill- work, an art which these Indians are 
very skilful in, and are justly proud of. Another extraordinary practice is their 
giving no nutriment to infants for the first four days after birth, in order, as they 
say, to render them capable of enduring starvation in after life, an accomplishment 
which they ai-e very likely to stand often in need of. 

It is diiificult to determine exactly the age of puberty. In boys it commences 
about twelve. Indeed, they endeavor, as soon as they can, to pay their addresses 
to the sex, and marry, generally, at from sixteen to twenty years of age. To 
fix the period for girls is still more diflicult. They marry sometimes, but not 
often, at ten, and have their menses about thirteen. The women are capable of 
bearing children from fourteen to forty-five, a long portion of their lives, but m 
it very\'W infants are produced. Families on an average contain three children; 
including deaths, and ten is the greatest number I have seen. In that instance 
the natives found it so unusual that they called the father " Hon-nen-na-be-ta," 
or the Father of Ten. Twins I have heard of but once. The proportion of 
births is rather in favor of females, a natural necessity, as it is the women among 
these tribes who have the shortest lease of life, and there is from various causes 
a much greater mortality among the girls than among the boys. The period of 
utero gestation is rather shorter than in Europeans, and seldom exceeds the nine 
months. Premature deliveries are very rare, and the women experience but 
little pain in child-birth, a few hours repose, after the occurrence, being sufficient 
to restore nature. 

The duration of life is, on an average, short. ]\[any children die at an early 
age, and there are few instances of the great longevity that occurs not unfre- 
quently in more temperate climates. Rarely does one of the Tinneh reach the 
" three score years and ten"' allotted to man. though an instance or two of passing 
this age has occurred within my own knowledge. A Slave woman died at Fort 
Simpson, in the autumn of lb6l, who had already borne three children when 
Sir Alexander McKrnzie,in 1789, descended the river bearing his name. Sup- 
posing that she had married at sixteen, and was confined once every three years, 
a high average for this people, she would have been ninety-seven years of age 
at tiie time of her death. For some years prior to her demise she was perfectly 
bed-ridden, and sadly neglected by her relatives, who evidently fancied that she 
had troubled them long enough. She lay solitary and forsikcn in a miserable 
camp, composed of a rude shelter and b^d of pine brush, her only covering a 
tattered caribou-skin robe. Such was the malignity of her disposition, even in 
"articulo mortis," that she reviled at nearly every adult, and struck with a stick 
at all the children and dogs that passed by her den. 

The Tinneh are far from a healthy race. The causes of death proceed rat her 

from weakness of constitution and hereditary taint tha-i from epidemic diseases, 

though, when the latter do come, they mike great havoc. Want of proper and 

regular nutriment and exposure in childhood m all probability uud-rmin- th -ir 

20 s 



306 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

constitutions before they come of age. The most prevalent maladies are infla- 
enzas, coughs, bilious affections, dysentery, and indigestion, brought on by 
gluttony. Scrofulous cases are not uncommon, and all the tribes are more or 
less subject to a pseudo-syphilis of great virulence, and which is, so far as I can 
learn, indigenous. Ophthalmic affections are very common, chiefly among the 
Athabascan and English River Chepewyans. They probably have their origin 
in syphilis. There are a few instances of total blindness, produced by the snow- 
glare on the great lakes in spring. Lice literally overrun all the natives. Fleas 
are unknown. The former insects are eaten as a species of relish, and are 
cracked in the teeth and nibbled, in order the better to enjoy the flavor, which 
the Indians represent as sweet. The tapeworm (taenia) is rather common. Like 
all hunter tribes these people have the senses of sight and hearing in perfection, 
while, owing to the dirtiness of their habits, that of smell is greatly blunted. 

RELIGIOUS OPINIOiNS. 

It is a task of no ordinary difficulty to arrive at correct conclusions respect- 
ing the meiital characteristics and religious ideas of the eastern Tinneh. They 
are exceedingly averse to laying open their belief, such as it is, to strangers, 
and their real disposition is exhibited only in the camp, am'dst the freedom of 
social intercourse. Deprived as I am of reference to the works of McKenzie 
and Hearne,. I must, unaided by any gleams thrown on the subject from the 
past, describe things as they exist, under the light of the present. 

These people seem to possess as cold and simple a theology as any known 
race of mankind. I am not, however, certain that such was the case seventy 
years ago. Many causes, all of which must have had more or less power, have 
combined to wean them from the laith of their ancestors. They are great imi- 
tators and respecters of more civilized races, and, so far as I can judge of their 
idiosyncracy, would have been very likely to cast aside their old ideas and 
superstitions, if ridiculed by the whiti s, who, being fur traders and not mission- 
aries, were far less likely to impart to them the Christian truths instead. They 
would thus have gradually and imperceptibly moved downwards to the condition 
of having no religion whatsoever. 

It is now many years since the Roman Catholic priests first instructed the 
Beavers, Cariboo Eaters, Chepewyans, and Yellow Knives; and although it is 
only four years since the Slave communities came under the direct influence of 
the gospel, still, from intercourse with the others, their superstitions had, in a 
good measure, either faded away or been imbued with a considerable quantity of the 
ideas derived from the sacred writ. When the Christian religion spreads, as it 
certainly will in a very short time, among the eastern, northern, and mountain 
Tinneh, their former faith will become a dream, and all traces of its existence 
be lost to the inquiring ethnologist. No heathen people, in my opinion, offer 
an easier field to the enterprise of missionaries. Their teaching will meet with 
but little opposition from the theological system or superstitions of the natives, and 
although 1 have great doubts if many will become sincere Christians at heart, 
they will at least submit willingly to the outward semblance of religion and 
conform to its ceremonies in a highly plausible manner. Their knowledge of 
a First Great Cause, the Maker and Ruler of the Universe, is very faint, yet I 
think it has always existed ; but as they have no idea of a future state of rewards 
and punishments, this credence, if they possess it, exercises neither power nor 
control over their actions, and appears to be of about as much use in their my- 
thological system as the Great Mogul was in modern times to the government 
of Hindoostan. Their religion is one of fear. They deprecate the wrath of 
demons, but no abstract notion of a single evil principle, antagonistic to and at 
war with the good one, appears to exist among them 'Vh<' demons are, among 
the unsophisticated and unchristianized natives, many in number. They people 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 307 

the woods and streams, haunt desert and lonely localities, and moan among the 
caches of the dead. To propiiiate these spirits, offerings are made ot some 
trifling and invariably very worthless article. This is hung upoa a bash or 
tree, and among the tributes of this kind, which I have seen, may be mentioned 
strips of cotton, worn-out shoes, tattered robes, pieces of leather, and old belts, 
whose perfectly worthless character showed plainly that though these Indians 
have a sneaking, superstitious fear, it is not sufficiency strong to overcome the 
avarice that forms so predominant a trait in their character. 

An inferior species of " totemism" obtains among them. Each hunter selects, 
as a species of f, miliar spirit, some animal, and invariably a carnivorous one. 
According to their custom, the man can then neither eat nor skin, and it avoid- 
able, not even kill the object of his choice. The taking of the " totem" is not, 
so for as I am aware, the occasion of any religious ceremony, as is the case 
amono- s^ome of the plain tribes. Pictures of various animds used in the olden 
day to be distributed among the natives by the traders, each individua receiv- 
in<- that of his totem. When a hunter had been unsuccessful he pulled this 
picture out of his medicine bag, laid it before him, and taking some tobacco 
from the same receptacle, paid adoration to the spirit by smoking and making it 
a speech. After this proceeding he returned with renewed ardor to the chase, 
and gt^nerally with success. , ^, n 

Fatalism appears to be deeply seated in their minds. They usually accept 
guch luck as is sent them, if not without murmuring, at least apathetically, and 
make but few struggles to combat adverse circumstances. 

There does not appear to be any regular order of priesthood. Any one who 
feels inclined to do so turns medicine man, but some are much more highly es- 
teemed than others, as possessing greater skill in conjuring away si.-kness and 
foretelling future events. The articles by which they affect to pertorm many 
remarkable and mysterious operations are very commonplace and trifling ; a 
flint, a piece of mica, a colored stone, or a bullet, being all equally efficacious 
mediums, through which to hold communication with their tutelary spirits. I 
have on several occasions, for amusement, tested the soothsaying powers ot some 
of the most celebrated wizards, by requesting information as to the future arrival 
of boats or letters, and I can confidently state that if they guess correctly once 
in twenty times, it is as much as their supernatural powers are capable of efiect- 
in°- As iuc-glers they hold a very inferior status, and do not approach, even 
in^a remote degree, the really remarkable skill that many of the Algonquin tribes 
possess in this way. An idea of the powers of conjurors to kill Indians at a dis- 
tance, simply by the force of their spells, was formerly common to all the race, 
and still exists with unabated strength among the Kutchm tribes of the 1 oucon 
river, who put great faith yet in their medicine men, and pay them liberally for 
their services in seasons of danger or sickness. Additional facts regarding these 
'/ doctors" will be noted hereafter, when I proceed to explain the medical theories 
and practice of the nation. 

MORAL Ai\D INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

Few of the moral faculties are possessed in any remarkable degree by the east- 
ern Tinneh. They are tolerably honest, not bloodthirsty nor cruel ; but this is, 
I suppose, the extent, as they are confirmed liars, far from being chaste, and have 
but very indistinct perceptions of doing to others as they would be done by. 
Some tribes are more noted for honesty than others ; the Beavers and Chepe- 
wyans being at the top of the scale, the Slaves in the middle, and the Hares, 
Dogribs and Yellow Knives at the bottom. The two first-named branches will 
compete' in this respect with any European nation. No people in the world arc 
more tenacious of what they possess themselves, or more willing to restore the 
property of others. On giving up what they may find to the owner, a demand 
for payment will sometimes be made. If the request be granted, well and good. 



aO(S NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

If not, it "will make no difference afterwards as to the rectitude of their conduct 
on a similar occasion. In the payment of their debts, also, they evince a much 
greater sense of justice than the other tribes. They seldom or never dispute 
their accounts if they be correct, and endeavor to liquidate them to the utmost of 
their power. The Slaves are tolerably honest, but have great objections to clear 
off old debts, giving for a reason that the articles purchased aie already worn 
out. The remaining tribes cannot be said to have a very keen perception of the 
rights of property, and are apt to reverse Prudhomme's celebrated dogma, " la 
propriete c'est le vol," into '' le vol c'est la propriete." Among all the branches 
of the eastern division, there is no law to punish theft further than restoration ; 
or if that cannot be had, purloining in return an article of similar or greater value. 
They do not, however, in general, steal much among themselves. The taking 
of provisions from " caches" in times of scarcity is reckoned perfectly lawful, but 
only the direst extremity will cause them to plunder those of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. 

In the ftibrication of false reports, and in the utterance of lies to serve their 
own interests, they are great adepts. The foimer is generally done from a wish 
to " cram," and is often rather ludicrous, but in the latter they evince a complete 
disregard for truth, and never appear in the least degree ashamed when taxed with 
it. There appears, indeed, to be a strong natural proneness to exaggeration in 
the minds of the eastern Tinneli, and a warped bias towards falsehood, even when 
a correct statement would equally serve their purpose. The smallest accident 
becomes in their narration mdgnified into truly horrific proportions, and on hear- 
ing of some terrible case of starvation or disaster from them, it is necessary to 
take it " grano salis," as I have on several occasions seen the murdered restored 
to life, and the starved to death jolly and fat. 

As a whole, the race under consideration is unwarlike. The Chepewyans, 
Beavers, and Yelluw Knives are much braver than the remaining ti'ibes. I have 
never known, in my long residence amnng this people, of arms having been re- 
sorted to in conflict. In most cases their mode of personal combat is a species 
of wrestling, and consists in the opponents grasping each other's long hair. This 
is usually a very harmless way of settling disputes, as whoever is thrown loses; 
yet instances have occurred of necks having been dislocated in the tussle. 
Knives are almost invariably laid aside previous to the contest. Some o^ the 
Chepewyans box tolerably well, but this method of fighting does not seem to be 
generally approved of, nor is it much practiced. On examination of the subject 
closely, I am disposed to consider thai this peaceful disposition proceeds more 
from timidity than from any actual disinclination to shed blood. These Indians, 
whether in want or not, will take the life of any animal, however useless to them, 
if they be able to do so, and that they can on occasion be sufficiently treacherous 
ai d cruel is evinced by the massacre at St. John's, on Peace river, and at Fort 
Nelson, on the Liard river. It may not be out of place here to give a brief 
account of the latter catastrophe : 

In 1811 the post of Fort Nelson, on the Liard river, was in charge of a 
Mr. Henry, a well educated and clever man, but of a hasty temper and morose 
disposition. While equipping the Indians in the autumn, he had a violent dis- 
pute with one of the principal chiefs of the Bastard Beaver Indians resorting to 
the establishment, who departed greatly enraged and muttering suppressed 
threats, which were little thought of at the time. In the winter a "courier" 
arrived at the fort to inform the whites that there were the carcasses of several 
moose deer lying at the camp ready to be hauled, and requested dog sleds to be 
sent for that purpose. Mr. Henry, never in the least suspecting any treachery, 
immediately despatched all the men and dogs that he could muster. On their 
way out they met an Indian, who told them that they had better turn back, as 
the wolverines had eaten all the meat. This information, as it turned out, was 
given from a friendly motive ; but fear of ulterior consequences to himself pre- 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 



309 



vented the man from speaking morp plainly. The fort interpreter, who was of 
the party and who all along suspected something more than appeared upon the 
surface, "iook the precaution to carry his -"^^ with him, and when they drew 
near to the path which led from the bod of the nver to the top of he banl 
where the Indians were encamped he lingered a little behuid. On the otheis 
mounting the ascent they were simultaneously shot down, at one ^j'^charge. by 
the natives who were in ambush awaiting them. When the interpreter hea> d the 
shots he was convinced of foul play; he therefore turned and made for the lort 
as auickly as he could, pursued by the whole party of savages, whose aim was 
to prevein him from alaiming the establishment. The man was a famous run- 
ner, and despite the disadvantage of small tripping snow-shoes, which permitted 
him to sink more deeply than the Indians, who, on then- laije hunting snow- 
shoes, almost skimmed over the surfoce of the snow, he would have reached the 
houses before them had not the line that confined the show-shoe on his foot 
broken. His enemies were too closely upon him to allow time for its repair, so, 
wishing to sell his life as dearly as possible, he levelled his gun at the nearest 
Indian? who evaded the shot by falling upon his face, whereupon the whole party 
made up and despatched him. After perpetrating this additional murder the 
band proceeded to the fort, which they reached at early dawn A poor old 
Canadian was, without suspicion of evil, cutting fire-wood at the back gate. 
His brains were dashed out with their axes, and they entered the establishment, 
whose inhabitants, consisting, with one exception, of women and children, were 
buried in profound repose. They first opened Mr Henry's room where he ^va3 
asleep The chief pushed him with the end of his gun to awaken hun. Ue 
did so, and seeing numerous fiendish and stern faces around him, made a spring 
to reach a pair of pistols that were hanging over his head ; but before he could 
grasp them, he fell a bleeding corpse on the bosom of Ins wife, who, in turn, 
became a helpless victim of the sanguinary and lustful revenge of the infuriated 
savages. Maddened by the blood, and demons in heart and act, they next pro- 
ceeded to wreak their vengeance on the innocent women and children, who ex- 
pired in agonies and under treatment too horrible to relate. 1 he pilhige of the 
stores was the next step, after which they departed, leaving the bodies of the 
dead unburied. No measures further than the abandonment of the fort tor 
several years were taken by the Northwest Company, to whom the establish- 
ment belonged, to punish the perpetrators of the atrocious deed, yet it is a 
curious fact that wheu I visited Fort Liards in 1849, but one of the actors sur- 
vived all the others having met with violent deaths, either by accident or at 
the hands of other Indians. This man, who was at the time only a lad. con- 
fessed to have dashed the brains out of an infant, taking it by the heels and 
swinging it against the walls of the house. . 

Tlie tt'ar of enemies, when in these peaceful times there are none to dread, is 
a remarkable trait of the timidity which so strongly influences the minds of the 
eastern Tinneh. It is, I conjecture, a traditional recollection of the days when 
the Knisteneaux or Crees made annual forays into the country of the iinneh, 
pushing so far as Bear river in search of scalps and plunder, when the 1 ellow 
Knives bullied the Slaves and Dogribs, and the Beavers warred with the 
Sickanies. A strange footprint, or any unusual sound in the forest, is quite 
sufficient to cause great excitement in the camp. At Fort Resolution I have on 
several occasions caused all the natives encamped around to flock for protection 
into the fort during the night by simply whistling, hidden m the bushes. My 
train of hauling dogs also, of a large breed and great hunters, would, in crashing 
through the branches in pursuit of an unfortunate hare, frighten some women 
out gathering berries, who would rush in frantic haste to the tents and fearfully 
relate a horrific account of some strange painted Indians whom they had seen. 
It was ray custom in the spring, during the wild fowl season, to sleep outside at 
some distance from the fort. Numerous were the cautions that I received from 



310 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

tlip natives of iny foolhardiness in doing; so, and when lliey found that I escaped 
with ini))unity, they accounted for the circumstance to their own satisfaction by 
saying- tliat 1 had hribed the " bad Indians to leave me alone." 

The race under consideration must be regarded as far from chaste, as conti- 
nence in a 1 unmarried female is scarcely considered a virtue, and its want brings 
no discredit on the individual. The intercourse between the sexes begins very 
soon. This is easily accounted for by their hearing and seeing so much that 
they should not at a very early age, which ripens their instincts at an earlier 
period than either their temperament or the cl mate of the country would warrant. 
Their dispositions are not amatory, and, in the case of the females, the love of 
gain is a much stronger incitement to immorality than any natural warmth of 
constitution. The divine and customary barriers between blood relations are not 
well observed, for, although it is not considered currect by general opinion, in- 
stances of men united to their mothers, their sisters, or their daughters, though 
not common, are lar from I'are. I have heard among them of two sons keeping 
their mother as a common wife, of another wedded to his daughter, and of several 
married to their sisters, while in cases of polygamy having two sisters to wife is 
very usual. The married state, easily entered upon and involving few duties 
and responsibilities, is but a slender guarantee for the mutual faithfulness of the 
sexes. A Tinneh woman, however obedient she may be to her taskmaster as 
regards labor, considers herself quite at liberty to dispose of her personal favors 
as she may wish, which latitude is not at all agreed to by her husband, who, 
while claiming and exercising quite as much freedom for himself, severely pun- 
ishes his wife if she forgets in a single instance the allegiance due, in his opinion, 
to him alone. The custom of robbing one another of their wives, or of fighting 
lor th'-m, the facilities for divorce, and the inferior estimation in which women 
are held, combine to produce a very lax condition of the marriage ties, and to 
originate a low state of morality, which will doubtless improve gradually as the 
operating causes are neutralized or done away with by the exertions of missiou- 
aries and advance of Christianity. 

The instinct of love of ofispring, common to the lower animals, exists strongly 
among these people, but considerably modified by the selfishness which is so 
conspicuous a feature in their character. In sickness they appear to sympathize 
strongly and to take great interest in the sutferer, so far as lamenting and crying 
goes; but their afl'ection is seldom strong enough to induce them to do anything 
that would either tax their comforts much or require great exertion. On arriving 
at mature age the bond between relatives is easily broken, and even in adoles- 
cence often but scanty deference is paid to parents. The parental instinct, 
though far more strongly developed in the mother than in the father, would, I 
am confident, ncA'er call forth such traits of self sacrifice, even to death, as have 
been exhibited many times among civilized and even barbarous nations. Male 
children are invariably more cherished and cared for than females. The latter 
are mere drudges, and obliged on all occasions to concede to their brothers; and 
though female infanticide, formerly so prevalent, is now unknown, still in sea- 
sons of starvation or times of danger, girls invariably fall the first sacrifices to 
the exigencies of the case. The death of a child is apparently not much re- 
gretted, the mourning is short, and although in after years a mother will lament 
her ofispring bitterly, there is far more of custom than reality in the exhibition, 
and it larely proceeds from the heart. The relation on the part of the children 
is still more soulless. Only in early age do they pay much attention to the 
commands of their parents, and the control of the latter is soon loosened. A 
curious circumstance is, that children are treated exactly as grown-up people, 
and talked to as such; but as the character of all ages is decidedly childish, it 
is not to be wondered at if such a manner suits all parties equally well. 

As these people are obliged to lead a very wandering life, in order to procure 
food either bv fishing or hunting, there cau be, and in fact is, but little or no 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 311 

altacbment to particular localities existing in their minds, though they have a 
strong bias towards their mode of life. The latter sentiment does not retain 
nearly so strong a hold on their dispositions as it does on most savage nations. 
Wedded to ancient manners and customs hy much more slender ties than exist 
in the generality of Indian tribes, they easily fall into the habits of Europeans, 
and, in cases of servants engaged from among them by the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, willingly abandon the charms of freedom and the chase for the more regn- 
lar comforts and daily avocat.ons of civilized life. I judge from this that if 
these tribes were properly instructed and located in a more favorable climate, 
they would become tolerable husbandmen, and without acquiring the ferocity 
of their congeners, the Navajoes, soon surpass them in agricultural skill and 
herdsmanship. 

2.— THE LOUCHEUX mDlA^Q.—Hardisty. 

The physical characteristics nf the Loucheux nation are, with few exceptions, 
the same as those of the other aborigines of North America. The skin is com- 
monly of a sallow brown tint, in some cases what might be called a yellowish 
white ; the hair is long, black, and lank ; the beard scanty, with rare exceptions. 
They have black deep-set eyes, receding foreheads, high cheek bones, high, 
aquiline noses and large mouths with tumid lips. The eyes are of a dark 
hazel color, often approaching to black, frequently small and oblique, thougb I 
have noticed particular individuals with very large eyes, while in others the 
eyes were remarkably small and these invariably oblique. 

The Loucheux language is a dialect of the Cliepewyan, which it more closely 
resembles than the intervening dialects of the Hare Indians and Slaves, although 
a very slight intercourse enables the latter also to understand the former suffi- 
ciently for the ordinary purposes of traffic. The Loucheux proper is spoken by 
the Indians of Peel's river, thence traversing the mountains westward down 
Rat river, the Tuk-kuth, (Rat Indians,) and Van-tah-koo-chin, it extends to the 
Tran-jikkoo-chin, Na-tsik-koo-chin, and Koo-chakoo-chin of the Youcon. All 
the tribes inhabiting the valley of the Youcon understand one another; a slight 
difference of accent being all that is perceptible in their respective dialects. 
The first material change occurs among the " Gens de Fou" or Hun-koo-chin, 
(river people.) These make use of a great many words in common with the 
"Gens de Bois," who again understand the language of the "Mauvais Monde" 
of Francis lake, which is the common language of the Mauvais Monde of Fort 
Halkett, the Thikanies, the Ah-bah-to-dinne (mountain Indians) and Nahau- 
nies of Forts Liard and Simpson. 

The Loucheux, though sunk in barbarism, are rather more intelligent than 
the other tribes composing the great Chepewyan nation, owing no df^ubt to 
their intellectual faculties being more frequently brought into active play in 
their traffic and intercourse with other tribes. They are essentially a commercial 
people, and live by barter, supplying their wants by exchanging their beads, 
which form the circulating medium, for the peltries of the neighboring tribes, 
to whom they go on periodical trading visits. They hunt no fnrs, but are, 
neveitheless, good hunters, and invariably well supplied with provisions, unless 
when some very unfavorable circumstances may have occurred to prevent suc- 
cess in the chase. They are great talkers and very fond of displaying their 
eloquence. They are always making public harangues, and in the figurative 
language they use, their speeches are not ineloquent nor void of sense. Their 
delivery is good, but the effect is spoiled by their gradually raising their voices 
to such a high pitch as to be compelled to stop before they come to the end of 
their speech from sheer want of breath. After a minute or two they begin 
again in a lower key, and gradually raising their voices as they proceed and get 
excited; they finally close their li;irangues with a most infernal screech, which 
is particularly disagreeable to a white man's ears. 



312 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEVVYAN INDIANS 

The Loucheux generally live in large parties, eacli band headed by a chief 
and one or more medicine men. The latter, however, do not possess any secular 
power as chiefs, but they acquire an authority by shamanism to which even the 
chiefs themselves are subject. 

AH the chiefs, medicine men, and those who possess rank acquired by prop- 
erty have two, three, or more wives, so that only few of the young men have 
wives, unless they can content themselves with some old cast-off widow, who, 
from ill health and the effects of bad treatment, is no longer able to perform 
heavy work. The consequence is that those who have wives are invariably 
jealous, and treat their women most brutally. It is one of the principal causes 
of the great falling off of the Loucheu.x nation. They are not half the number 
they used to be. The other causes of the decrease in the population are female 
infanticide, and premature birth and very frequent miscarriages from over exer- 
tion, &c. Infanticide is caused by the misery of the women — at least, this is 
the only reason they give for it. When questioned on the subject, they in- 
variably give the same answer, " that they love their children, and destroy them 
only to save them from the hardships and misery to which their mothers are 
exposed in this life." To preserve them alive is equivalent to the unnatural 
crime of a mother wilfully placing her daughter in misery. When a young 
man has acquired the means, he purchases a young girl (perhaps an infant) 
from its mother, who has the power to dispose of her daughter to whom she 
pleases, though no doubt she will sometimes consult the wishes of her husband. 
The fathers and brothers have no voice in the matter by the laws of the tribe. 
The females are fewer than the men, especially when young, and might be con- 
sidered pretty, but they get proportionably coarse and ugly as they grow old, 
owing to hard labor and bad treatment. The very low position which they oc- 
cupy in the social scale, is a sign of the depth to which the Loucheux are still 
sunk in barbarism. The women are literally beasts of burden to their lords and 
masters. All the heavy work is performed by them. When an anim il is 
killed, they carry the meat and skin on their backs to the camp, after which 
they have the additional labor of dressing the skin, cutting up the meat and 
drying it. They are the drawers of wood and water; all the household duties 
devolve upon them; they have to keep up the fires, cook, &c., besides all the 
other work supposed to belong to the women, such as lacing the snow shoes for 
the family, making and mending their husband's and children's clothes, &c. In 
raising the camp, or travelling from one place to another, if, in winter, the 
woman hauls all the baggage, provisions, lodge poles, cooking uteusils, with 
probably a couple of children on the top of all, besides an infant on the back, 
while the husband walks quietly on ahead with his gun, horn and shot-pouch, 
and empty hunting bag. In the summer the man uses a small light hunting 
canoe, requiring very little exertion to propel it through the water, while the 
poor woman is forced to struggle against the current in a large ill-made canoe, 
laden with all the baggage, straining every nerve to reach a particular place 
pointed out beforehand by her master as the intended camping ground. 

They are a lively, pleasant, race, and have many rules and regulations, which 
are strictly adhered to both in public and private life. Their games and pastimes 
are more manly and rational than those of the dull, apathetic Slaves. They are 
passionately fond of dancing, wrestling, running, &;c., in all which sports the 
women, especially the younger, take a part. Their dances, which are accom- 
panied by singing, are not void of harmony, as they keep time with their 
bodies, beating cadence with their feet, and moving themselves in grotesque 
though not unpleasant postures, which are apparently rather difficult to perform, 
as they perspire profusely. Their wrestling matches are commenced generally 
bv two little boys. When one of them is thrown he retires and another, a little 
bigger, takes his place. As soon as he has thrown his opponent he rises up 
quickly and places himself in preparation for the next, who will make a sudden 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 313 

rush at him so as to get an advantageous hold before he is prepared and while 
still panting from hi! previous exertion. Still if he be the stronger or more 
expert, he may knock down his second adversary, also the third or perhaps a 
fourth before he is thrown, when he retires and leaves the held to his conqueror, 
who in his turn will continue to throw as many as he can, one after the othei, 
until he, too, perhaps from exhaustion, is obliged to give way to a resher or 
more vigorous opponent. The combatants rise in gradation until all the men 
have had their turn, and one, the last, remains alone on the ground with the 
honor of being the best wrestler of the tribe. Afterwards two little girls begin 
in their turn and so on until all the women also have been thrown, except one 
who remains to claim the approbation of her male friends. In winter tune they 
have a most amusing, though rather unsafe, game to those who are unacquainted 
with it. Four trees are selected, forming as nearly as possible a square ot 
about thirty feet, to which strong leather cords are tied diagonally as tight as 
possible, about twenty feet from the ground. Where the cords cross a piece of 
leather about eight inches square is tied securely, on which each in his urn i^ 
required to stand. The least pressure sends the person up in the air perhaps a 
couple of feet, when he comes down the second time on the piece ot leather 
The cords being suddenly distended with his weight, the " contre coup will 
shoot him up perpendicularly in the air, perhaps a dozen feet, ^ow is the time 
of dano-er, for if he is not expert, or has not been able to keep himself straight, 
be may come down a height of perhaps twenty or thirty feet on his head to the 
o-rouud. The object is to see who will fall oftenest perpendicularly on his eet 
Sn the little leather table without breaking his neck, I might say, or tumbling 
on one side to the ground to the amusement and uproarious laughter ot the 

"" Thev arc hospitable, but more, I think, because it was a custom of then- fathers 
than frmn real generosity. After the first day, during which a guest is served 
with the best they have, and welcome, he may remain for months with them 
without rising above the salt, as it were, unless indeed he be a chief, or a man ot 
consequence-that is, one with plenty of beads, or more especially a med.c.ne 
man, but even then only for a time. Avarice is certain to get the better ot 
their fears in the end. Each head of a family is expected to, and does, act the 
host for the whole band in his turn, day about. Whether they do so in rota- 
tion or how it is managed I was never able to find out Whether mvitations 
are sent, or the fact of any particular person putting all the kettles m camp m 
request apprizes the others which is to be the general eating-room of the day, 
I cannot say. At all events, all the males, from the oldest to the youngest are 
drawn as if by magic to the point of general attraction. They continue falhng 
in until the lodge is crammed ; the more the merrier ; the greater the pressure, 
the better the host is pleased. The favored or principal guest sits on the host s 
right hand, the next on his left, and so on downwards to the fourth or fifth on 
each side of him. The sixth downward are considered to be below the salt. 
The next rule observed is to divide or carve the meat properly according to 
rule. The best and fattest pieces, the titbits, are piled in a heap before the prin- 
cipal guest, who, after he has satisfied his hunger, sends the rest to his own 
lodge for his wife and children. The person on his le t hand gets the next 
best pieces and sends what he leaves to his family, and so on downwards to 
the salt, below which the meat is distributed as it comes, without selection. 
Every fowl, every animal and part of an animal, must be divided or carved in a 
particular way, and if any person evince ignorance or inexpertness it excites the 
laughter and ridicule of the rest. One may be a principal guest with one host, 
and yet sit fourth or fifth or even below the salt with another. All goes by 
relationship or the estimation in which the person is held by the particular host 
for the time being. The host himself does not eat on that day beyond takmg 
one mouthful, tasting the meat before helping the head guest, bhould he eat 



314 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

anything more, lie would be considered verj mean and ridiculed accordingly. 
He may get his wife to cook something for him after the guests have left, but 
not before, and it may be some time before they do leave, especially if there be 
anything to talk about, for after they have all eaten and diank, the host is 
obliged by rule to cut up tobacco and fill every pipe. The wife cuts the wood 
and cooks and collects all the pans. During the repast she sits at the door, if 
she can find room, and outside if not, to hand to her husband whatever he may 
ask for. ■^ 

This apparent abnegation of self is perceptible through all their regulations, 
lor instance, unless he is alone a hunter cannot take and appropriate the meat 
of the animal he kills. Should he do so lie would be considered mean. And 
this feeling is so strong that 1 could not induce them to abolish the custom 
during the long time I remained among them, so much do they dread the 
Idea of being thought mean with regard to anything eatable. When two good 
hunters go together, good and well— the one has as good a chance of getting 
meat as the other ; but when one is a bad hunter and the other a good one the 
former gets all the meat and the real hunter has nothing, and loses his ammu- 
nition into the bargain. 

Although hospitable to a certain extent as far as food is concerned, their nat- 
ural character is selfish. (But where will you find an Indian who is not?) 
Ihey would not part with half a dozen common beads for nought, and are 
keenly alive to the ridicule attached to a bad bargainer. They will harangue 
and protest for days against what they consider (all honor and honesty apart, 
ot course) an inadequate payment for what they give. They will have recourse 
to every subterfuge, even intimidation, to have the best of a bargain, and will do 
all in their })Ower to fleece their opponent, and .boast about it afterwards. 

Ibe wife is expected to furnish the skins required for the clothing of the 
whole family, either by dressing the skins of the animals killed by her husband, 
or by purchase from others vi\\\xher oun heads— i\xs.l\^, her marriage portion, or 
what she may have had on her person or dress when she was married, and 
what she may have received from time to time from her husband for good con- 
duct, or, probably, when he happened to be in an unusually good and generous 
humor. She supplies all the beads or wampum required for ornamenting the 
dresses of all the family, including her own and even her husband's. His beads 
are the family fortune, the capital which cannot be touched except for purposes 
of trafhc or for payment of doctor's hdls, &:c.— that is, paying the medicine-man 
m tune of sickness and for producing wind and f^ivorable weather in times of 
scarcity. The first time a Loucheux saw a blacksmith's bellows he, of course, 
reported to his friends all particulars regarding the ironmaker's blowing machine. 
Some time after a medicine-man came to me secretly to inquire the truth, whether 
It would be possible for him to purchase, and the price of this wonderful wind- 
producing machine of the ironmaker's, and whether it could be turned to ac- 
count m making wind for hunting moose in cold weather, for, being a medicine- 
man, he was expected to make wind when it was required, and if he could only 
get this wonderful wind-maker, which he had heard so much about, his reputa- 
tion would be at its height, and his fortune made. 

The Loucheux have a number of legendary stories, but generally of such an 
obscene character as not to merit mention here. Even the story reo-ardino- 
caste, or the regulation which divides mankind (the people, Loucheux) iuto 
three different grades, is of a filthy character. They believe the heavens to be 
a walled canopy ench-cling the world. There are people above this canopy 
who in former times used to visit the earth, and on several occasions carried off 
women with them to the celestial regions. The women, however, it seems, did 
not find this paradise such a place of bliss as to wish to remain there. They 
regretted the pleasures of this lower world of ours, and after a time hit upon the 
expedient of boring the heavenly canopy. Then secretly collecting all the cords 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 315 

they could find, they tied the end to a stone somewhat larger than the orifice, 
and by this means lowered themselves to the earth. The story goes on to say 
that the cord was just long enough, but, unfortunately, they found themselves 
over a lake, and might have been drowned after all had it not happened that an 
Indian was passing in a canoe at the time, and saved them from their perilous 

situation. 

With reference to the story about caste it is difficult to arrive at a correct so- 
lutiun of the matter. The fact, I believe, is that they do not know themselves, 
for they give various accounts of the origin of the three great divisions of man- 
kind. Some say it was so from the beginning ; others that it originated when 
all fowls, animals, and fish were people — the fish were the Chitsah, the birds 
Tain-sccs-ah-tsah, and the animals Nat-singh ; some that it refers to the coun- 
try occupied by the three great nations who are supposed to have composed the 
who e family of man ; whde the other, and, I think, most correct opinion, is that 
it refers to color, for the words are applicable. Chitsah refers to anything of a 
pale color — fair people; Nat-singh, trom ah-zingh, black, dark — that is, dark 
people ; Tain-gees-ah-tsah, neither fair nor dark, between the two, from tain- 
gees, the half, middle, and ah-tsah, brightish, from tsa, the sun, bright, glitter- 
in"-, shining, &c. Another thing, the country of the Na-tsik-koo-chin is called 
Nah-t'singh to this day, and it is the identical country which the Nat-singh oc 
cupied. The Na-tsik-koo-chin inhabit the high ridge of land between the You- 
con and the Arctic sea. They live entirely on the flesh of the reindeer, and are 
very dark-skinned compared with the Chitsangh, who live a good deal on fish. 
All ihe elderly men fish the salmon and salmon trout during the summer, while 
the } oung men hunt the moose, and have regular white-lish fisheries every au- 
tumn besides. Some of the Chit-sangh are very fair, indeed, in some instances 
approaching to white. The Tain gees-ah-tsa live on salmon trout and moose 
meat, and, taken as a whole, are neither 6o fair as the Chit-sangh nor so dark 
as the Nah-t'singh. They are half-and-half between the two. A Chit-sangh 
cannot, by their rules, marry a .Chit-sangh, although the rule is set at naught 
occasionally ; but when it does take place the persons are ridiculed and laughed 
at. The man is said to have married his aister, even though she may be from 
another tribe and there be not the si ghtest connection by blood between them. 
The same way with the other two divisions. The children are of the same color 
as their mother. They receive caste from their mother; if a male Chit-sangh 
many a Nah-tsingh woman the children are Nah-tsingh, and if a male Nah-tsiugh 
marry a Chit-sangh woman the children are Chit-sangh, so that the divisions are 
always changing. As the fathers die out the country inhabited by the Cbit- 
eangh become's occupied by tiie Nah-tsingh, and so oii vice versa. They are 
continually changing countries, as it were. Latterly, however, these rules are 
not so strictly observed or enforced as formerly, so that there is getting to be a 
complete amalgamation of the three great divisions, such a mixture that the 
difierence of color is scarcely perceptible, and, no doubt, will soon disappear 
altogether, except what is produced by natural causes. The people who live on 
the flesh of the reindeer are always darker than those who live on fish, or on 
part fish and part flesh. One good thing proceeded from the above arrangement- 
it prevented war between two tribes who were naturally hostile. The ties or 
oblio'ations of color or caste were stronger than those of blood or nationality. 
In war it was not tribe against tribe, but division against division, and as the 
children were never of the same caste as the father, the children would, of course, 
be against the father and the father against the children, part of one tribe 
against part of another, and part against itself, so that, as may be supposed, 
there would have been a pretty general confusion. This, however, was not 
likely to occur very often, as the worst of parents would have naturally preferred 
peace to war with his own chUdren. 

As a rule slavery does not exist among the Loucheux, but the orphan and the 



316 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

fiiendleps are kept in servitude .and treated so harshly as to be really little 
better than slaves, until such time as they get big enough and bold enough to 
assert their independence, when they are allowed to shift for themselves. 

The Loucheux are very superstitious, and place implicit faith in the pre- 
tended incantations of their medicine-men, for whom they entertain great i'ear. 
When a death occurs they make loud expressions of grief. They accompany 
their lamentations with a song or dirge, in which they enumerate all the good 
qualities of the deceased, and when they have raised themselves to a fit of un- 
governable fury and excitement, a medicine-man will adroitly and imperceptibly 
raise the idea that the person's death was caused by a medicine-man of a neigh- 
boring tribe, or if a disinterested person do so for him, so much the better, as it 
draws away suspicion from himself. On such occasions the relatives of the 
deceased will immediately take a quantity of beads to the conjuror, and entreat 
him to find out who the hidden enemy really is, and the particular reason of the 
death of their friend, so that they in their turn may know in what direction to 
turn the shaft of levenge. When a person of consequence is sick, he will fre- 
quently receive a visit of condolence from a medicine man of a neighboring tribe. 
As a mark of respect for the stranger he is invariably employed to recover the 
sick person, being of course well paid in beads for his trouble, to the exclusion 
and great displeasure of the native " doctor," who is sure to find some means to 
be revenged on the intruder for the slight he has received, and the loss he has 
sustained. On such occasions there is frequently a row, after, if not before, the 
departure of the visitor, for his opponent will secretly endeavor to make the 
impression that some medicine-man, or perhaps the favored guest himself is the 
real enemy of the sick person. When these insinuations and stories begin to 
take effect, the guest seizes the first favorable opportunity to take his departure, 
for he has a sufficient knowledge of the Loucheux human nature to be aware that 
in moments of great grief or excitement the slightest whim or chance may 
direct the popular fury towards himself. If he gets off' safe, he goes on his way 
rejoicing under a good load of beads and thinking good humoredly on the acqui- 
sition he has made to his wealth, and the power and infiuence it will give him 
among his own tribe, riches being the talisman with the Loucheux as well as 
others. The power of the medicine-men is very great, and they use every means 
they can to increase it by working on the fears and credulity of the people. 
Their influence exceeds even that of the chiefs. The power of the latter con- 
sists in the quantity of beads they possess — their wealth and the means it affords 
them to work ill to those to whom they may be evil-disposed ; while the jjower 
of .the medicine-man cons'sts in the harm they believe he is able to do by sham- 
anism, should they happen to displease him in any way. It is when sickness 
prevails that the conjuror rules supreme; it is then that he fills his bead bag3 
and increases his riches. Some near relative of the invalid, or, as often happens, 
some other peison,to court popularity, will give him a quantity of beads to save 
the sick person or to ascertain his probable death or recovery. Of course the 
medicine-man, from the symptoms of the malady or from appearances, has already 
decided on the answer he is to give in the event of his being employed in the 
matter, and from long practice and observation he generally becomes an adept 
in predicting the final death or recovery; for even if the worst be foretold, he is 
perfectly aware that the friends of the sick person, so far from sparing iheir 
beads and losing all hope, will, on the contrary, rather give even more to avert 
the doom. 

But the medicineman has other ways of increasing his means. When prac- 
tice becomes low, and the people seem to forget that their prosperity, their 
health, and even their lives are in his hands, among other tricks he will probably 
take a pretended nap daring the day, and when he awakens will inform those 
near him that such and such a person will, in his opinion, soon die. This he 
does in an ambiguous way, without particularly mentioning the person's name, 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 317 

but in such a manner that it is perfectly well understood by all who is referred 
to As soon as it is dark, for they never conjure in the daytune unless in cases 
of great emergency, the doomed person goes to the doctor with his beads makes 
a «hort speech, in which he extols the power and ability of the doctor, laments 
the fate which threatens himself, and finally presents him with his beads and 
entreats him to retard, or, if possible, prevent the doom which awaits him. Ihe 
doctor replies that he is sorry to give him pain and would not wish to take his 
beads for nothing, that it is probably a mistake, and may even reter to some 
other person. In his wanderings among his medicinal spirits, or familiars, he 
merely observed a shade which overhung a particular individual, still it may not 
indicate anything serious, but he will ascertain correctly during the night and 
let him know. In tliR mean time he retains the beads with a secret determina- 
tion tliat they shall not leave his possession in future. I have known several 
fall sick and actually die from the effects of such stories on the imagination, 
while in other cases it was with the greatest difficulty I could remove the im- 
pression produced on their minds by these threatened calamities. I he predic- 
tion invariably told most fearfully on the imagination, producing hrst low spirits, 
languor, then sickness, particularly in bilious subjects, and very frequently even 
death. When such things occur, the character and power of the cunning rogue 
has reached its height, and he is ever after looked upon with fear and respect, and 
consulted with confidence. No hunting excursion, no voyage, nothing, in fact, 
is undertaken without consulting him. Often have I known a party of Indians 
on the eve of starting to pass the winter or summer at some place favorable for 
hunting, when a medicine-man would suddenly set all their plans at naught by 
circulating the idea that starvation, sickness, death, or other misfortune awaited 
them in tliat particular direction, while he would cunningly recomm.'nd them 
some other place, which, from knowledge of the country, proximity to his own 
lands, or in some way or other was more suitable to his own views. 

When any of their relations die all their beads which have not been given to the 
medicine-man, or otherwise destroyed or disposed of to show their grief, and the 
estimation in which th6 deceased was held, are either buried with the body 
or broken up, and the fragments sprinkled about the grave, or, what of late has 
been customary, they are kept to be finally distributed among the Indians 
at the dance for the dead, which takes place nine or twelve months after inter- 
ment, when their mourning and all outward tokens of grief are supposed to 
end. All the beads they have on their persons are also distributed in this way, 
or destroyed, together with their clothes. Their hair is cut close to the head 
or singed, which certainly gives them the appearance of miserable, grief-stricken 
wretches Sometimes too they will cut and lacerate their bodies with flints, or, 
as sometimes happens, they will, in a fit of revenge against fate, stab si-me poor, 
friendless person who may happen to be sojourning among them. Those who bury 
the dead receive a quantity of beads in payment, but fear of the lifeless body makes 
them averse to the office, and they generally endeavor to evade being selected 
to perform the service, owing to the restrictions imposed by their rules on all 
those who are selected to perform that duty. For instance, they must not eat 
fresh meat, unless the absence of every other kind of food renders it absolutely 
necessary to preserve life, and that only when it is cold. They must tear the 
meat with their teeth, the use of a knife being prohibited. They must drink 
out of a gourd, carried for the purpose, as they are not allowed to slake their 
thirst out of any drinking or cooking vessel. Those, too, who have handled a 
dead body wear peeled willow wands round the arms and neck, or carry peeled 
willow wands, about two feet long, in their hands. These are supposed to keep 
off infection, and to prevent any evil effect which m-"ght follow the handling of 
a deceased body. After a certain time subsequent to the death of a relative, 
the nearest of kin to the deceased, if a man of wealth, makes a general festival 
for the dead— the " dead dance"— when he distributes the rest of his beads— his 



318 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

■whole fortune — to his countrymen, half of what each receives to be returned 
either in beads or furs after a year, to enable the person who makes the festival 
to beg n the world afresh after he has completed liis term of mourning. In the 
mean time he makes every exertion to collect a quantity of good meat. Invita- 
tions are sent to all the neighboring tribes ; a level piece of ground is fenced 
round, and the beads are strung and neatly hung up on painted cross poles 
within the enclosure. During this time, also, he composes the songs to be used 
on the occasion, in which all the good qualities of the deceased are enumerated, 
his abilities as a hunter are extolled, and any good or praiseworthy act he may 
have committed during life is held up as an example for the imitation of 
others. When the guests have assembled, early on the following morning, 
every one cleans and paints himself; fires are lighted within the enclosure; 
several are set to cook, others to cut up tobacco, while the rest are dancing to 
the songs of the host and his wives, who, all the time, beats cadence on a piece of 
painted wood he holds in his hand. After they have had their repast and smoked 
their pipes the singing and dancing recommence, in which they all join. They then 
throw a bladder of grease among the crowd. The first who seizes hold of it runs 
away as ftist as he can, pursued by all the rest. When he finds himself hard pushed 
he endeavors to secure at least a piece for himself, but this is not easy to do, as 
the grease is mixed up with sinew, which makes it very difficult to break, so he 
must either endeavor to outrun his pursuers or be content to part with it to the 
hungry multitude behind. By this time he is getting exhausted, and he tries 
to double on the others ; but, among such a number, it is hardly possible to 
escape, and he will either stop or throw the grease on one side, when there is a 
general scrambling for it, accompanied by screams and a noise that is deafening. 
After going on in this way for a time they will quietly eat the grease, and thea 
return to the enclosure, when a moose skin will probably be thrown among them. 
The smartest will seize and run away with it in order to secure it for himself, 
doiigg as was done with the grease ; but this time every one that can catch hold 
of the skin, while one seizes a knife and cuts away between the hands, until 
each finds himself possessed only of what he was ai le to grasp. This goes on 
for several days, accompanied by wrestling, pushing on a strong pole, fifty or 
sixty against an equal number, racing, &c. After this the beads are distributed 
as before stated, the fence is pulled down, harangues are delivered, strong pro- 
fessions of eternal faith and good will are made, when each party takes its de- 
parture for its own land, and the term of mourning is at an end. 

Their knowledge of a Supreme Being, if they have any at all, is very limited. 
They know nothing of the soul. They say man has reason, acquired from 
education, imitation, or experience, which increases witli age; for instance, they 
say a child has no education, no experience — that is, no reason; or if he has, it is 
so weak or imperfect that he will crawl straight into the fire without the slightest 
fear of the consequences. If he had a soul, which is part of the Great Spirit 
himself, he would be as wise when born as at any time of his life ; more so, in 
fact, for he is pui-er, having just come from his Maker. Neither would he require 
education or experience to guide him through life. They believe in a future state 
of rewards and punishments — that is, they believe they will be successful or 
unfortunate in the world to come according as they have acted well or ill in this ; 
that those who have been poor and miserable in this world, if they have com- 
mitted no heinous crimes, will be happy in the next ; also, that the relative states 
of a wicked and prosperous man, and that of a poor, despised, ill-treated though 
innocent person, may be reversed hereafter; that the two will change places, as 
it were. 

They have an imaginary person, a good angel, common to all, who is supposed 
to guard them from evil and supply their wants. This good angel is supplicated 
when they start on a hunting expedition, and is supposed to have the power of 
changing his shape and appearance. The story goes that an old woman found 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 319 

him as a little boy, brought him to her camp and took care of him. This boy- 
made a pair of large hunting snow-shoes for himself, which excited tlie ridicule 
of the men at the idea that a ragged, miserable little urchin like him should 
pretend to require and use such a thing. The boy, however, paid no attention 
to their scoffs, but continued to be kind and attentive to the old woman, his 
grandmother, as he called her. His origin was unknown, and he could not give 
any account of where he had come from. Altogether there was something 
mysterious about the child which kept him apart from the rest. Whenever 
they were in distress for want of food and their best hunters could kill nothing, 
some of them would fall on a fresh track, which, following up, would invariably 
lead them to a freshly killed animal. From this spot the track and all vestige 
of the unknown hunter disappeared. This continued for some time until at length 
suspicion fell on the strange boy and his large hunting snow-shoes. People 
were set to watch him, and it was found that he was in the habit of leaving the 
camp secretly, when the others were asleep or otherwise occupied, and returning 
again in the same mysterious manner. In this way he was discovered to be 
the unknown hunter and their benefactor. This, however, did not improve his 
condition with the others. He still continued to be the poor neglected and 
despised boy he was when they found him. After a time, in winter, the Indians 
killed a great number of deer. The boy asked them for a piece of fat, which 
in their arrogance they refused to give. That night he disappeared, and no 
vestige of him could be found but his clothes, which were disc overed hanging 
on a tree. About a month after he again appeared among them as a grown-up 
man and well dressed. He told them that he had gone to live in the moon, 
from whence he would continue to afford them his protection so long as they 
deserved it ; that when they were in distress they were to supplicate his aid, and 
he would send them relief, with this reservation, that in consequence of their 
having refused him a piece of fat when he asked them, all animals would in 
future be lean in winter, and flit only in summer. Since then he has continued 
to live in the moon, and is ever ready to answer the prayers of the hunter who 
demands his aid before going on a hunting expedition. 

They believe in a future state of bliss, where they are to live forever, in the 
same bodies they occupied while here. The principal features of this paradise 
are pleasant hunting grounds, where there is an eternal summer, fat animals, no 
sickness, no death, with exemption from all labor beyond preparing the meat of 
the animals they kill for food; but they have, notwithstanding, a great fear of 
death, and a particular aversion to being buried in the ground. The idea of 
their bodies being destroyed by worms is horrible. For this reason they enclose 
the body in a neatly hollowed piece of wood, and secure it to two or more trees 
about six feet from the ground. A log about eight feet long is first split in two 
and each of the parts carefully hollowed out to the required size. The body is 
then enclosed and the two pieces well lashed together preparatory to being 
finally secured, as before stated, to the trees. 

The widow or widows of the deceased are obliged to remain near the bodj 
for a year to protect it from animals, &c. When it is perfectly decayed, and 
nothing but the bones remain, they are burned and the ashes collected and 
secured in a small box, which is hung up on the end of a painted pole, with a 
piece of painted wood fixed in the ground to mark the last resting-place of their 
departed friend. After this the women are allowed to marry again. They 
begm to dress their hair, and put on beads and other ornaments to attract 
admirers, to go through the same observances again, should they a second time 
become widows. 

Great or heinous crimes with the Loucheux are thieving — that is, wilful theft — 
and murder of the innocent by shamanism ; also lying ; yet they are much given 
to telling lies and speaking scandal. Employing wealth (beads) as a means of 
taking away life — that is, paying away beads to a medicine- man to take away the 



320 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

life of another, especially if he be innocent — is a great crime, but the killing of 
an enemy in a fair stand-np fight is honorable, although they seldom act up to 
their principles. A Loucheux prefers the safest side of valor, and hardly ever 
makes an attack unless he is pretty certain of coming off without harm. 

Formerly the young women had their chins tattooed in perpendicular lines 
from the corner of the mouth to the chin. Latterly the practice has been dis- 
continued. Until the introduction of fire-arms by the Company, they made use 
of bows and arrows in the chase, also of twisted deerskin thongs for snaring the 
deer and moose. Their arms of defence were the bow and arrow and the knife; 
their clothing is of dressed deerskin in the summer, and in winter the same with 
the hair on. They live in conical lodges, rather flat at the top, made of deer- 
skins dressed with the hair on, as well described in Sir John Richardson's work. 

3.— THE KUTCHIN TRIBES.— Jones. 

The Kutchin may be said to inhabit the territory extending from the Mac- 
kenzie, at the mouth of Peel's river, latitude GS^, longitude 134^, to Norton's 
sound, living principally upon the banks of the Youcon and Poi-cupine rivers, 
though several of the tribes are situated far inland, many days' journey from 
either river. The Kutchin nation is very numerous, and is divided into about 
twenty-two different tribes, each speaking a dialect of the same language, and 
bearing a very great I'esemblance to each other in habits and customs. The 
dress is the same among all the tribes. According to their traditions they were 
created here, but their account is so intensely obscene that I fear to write it. 

Character. — In this they differ entirely from the Tinneh tribes of the Mac- 
kenzie, being generous, honest, hospitable, proud, high-spirited, and quick to re- 
venge an injury; in short, bearing a much greater resemblance to the Plain tribes 
than any other of the northern Indians. They were once very numerous, but 
wars among themselves, disease, and famine have reduced their aggregate very 
much. One or two of the tribes are nearly extinct. 

Physical aj)pcarance. — The average height of the men is about five feet eight 
inches, though there are numbers six feet high. The women average five feet 
three inches, and are very strongly made. The color of the skin is dusky, the 
hair and eyes black. The men are completely destitute of beard, and both men 
and women are intensely ugly. 

Dress. — The men's summer dress consists of a shirt, pointed before and be- 
hind, the point nearly reaching to the knee; trousers, and shoes, both sewed to- 
gether, all made of dressed deer-skin without the hair. The shirt has a broad 
fringe of beads across the breast, and there is a broad band of beads down the 
front of the legs of the trousers. Both fringe and band were in former times 
made of Iliagua shells ( Dental ium) or of wooden beads made from willows. The 
dress of the women is nearly the same, differing only in the shirt reaching below 
the knee and not being pointed. The winter dress is the same, but is made of 
deer-skin, with the hair on and turned inside. Sometimes the shirt is made of 
muskrat or rabbit-skin, but in this case the hair is turned outwards. Mittens of 
deer or sheep skin, with the hair inside, and a cap of rabbit-skin, with the hair 
outside, complete the winter dress. The children are dressed in the same way, 
but have the mittens sewed to the shirt sleeves, instead of being fastened to a 
line passing over the neck as in the case of the men and women, and their hood 
is fastened to the shirt, and draws off" and on like the hood of a Canadian capote. 
The men paint themselves with vermilion in lines across the face; they use also 
a kind of powder from the mountains exactly resembling black lead; they pow- 
der their hair with goose down and a kind of red earth during their feasts. The 
women tattoo their chins with lines from the mouth to tlie throat by puncturing 
the skin and rubbing in the black powder mentioned before. The men always, 
and the Avomen sometimes, bore a hole in the end of the nose, between the nos- 
trils, and insert an ornament into it. Among the Kut-cha-Kutchin, Vondt-way- 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 



321 



Kutcliiii, Nat-sit-Kutcliin, tlii?* oninincnt cniipists of four Iliagiia ^liclls fastened 
together, but among the Ilong-Kutehiu and other tribes a in(;tal ring i.s used 
sometimes instead. Making an incision in the under lip, or fbitlening tlie beads 
of infants, are quite unknown among them. 

Food. — This consists fur the most part of venison or fish, tliougli tliey eat the 
mountain sheep and goat, rabbits, partridges, wild fowl, and, in the winter, bears. 
The bears are not often eaten in sumuier, as their flesh is not good at that time. 
The country is full of game of all kinds ; moose abound in one part, deer iu 
anolher. 

DwcUings. — These are movable, and are thus constructed : deer skins are 
dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls, which are 
stretched over a frame of bent poles. The lodge is nearly elliptical, about twelve 
or thirteen feet iu diameter, and six feet high, very similar to a tea-cup turned 
bottom upwards. The door is about four feet high, and is simply a deer skin, 
fastened above and hanging down. The hole to allow the smoke to escape is 
about four feet in diameter. Snov/- is heaped up outside the edges of the lodge, 
and pine L)rash spread on the ground inside, the snow having been previously 
shovelled off with snow-shoes. The fire is made in the middle of the lodge, and 
one or more flimilies, as the case may be, live on each side of tlie fire, every one 
having his or her own particular place. 





Elevation of liut. 



Grouud plan of luit. 




In travelling, the women haul the lodges, poles, rolls, blankets, kettles, &;c., 
upon wooden trunnions, something similar to the American sleigh, only the 
runners are turned up behind as well as before, thus being equally fitted to move 
backwards or for- • 

wards. When the 
day's journey is fin- 
ished, the men put 
up the lodges ; but 
when a lodge has 
to be removed only 
a few yards, the Kutcbin sled. 

women do it. When a number of lodges are placed together, no regular form of 
arrangement is observed, except that thedoois are all turned one way, that is, to 
the leeward. They have no lodges or buildings set apart for public purposes, 
though they certainly have an enclosed place for medicine dances, feasts, &c., 
for the dead. 

Arts. — There is little to say upon this head. They have no pottery ; and their 
only vessels were constructed of bark, wood, matting, or sheep liorns. The birch 
bark vessels are usually square or oblong; wooden troughs are used as dishes, 
and wooden or horn spoons are large enough to hold a jjint. Tin y are never 
made so small as a table-spoon. The kettles were, and still are made, by the 
Hong-Kutchin at least, of tamarack roots woven together. These kettles are 
very neat ; hair and dyed porcuqine quills are woven into them. The water ia 
21 s 



322 



NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 




boiled by means of stones heated red hot and thrown into the kettle. The 
arrow-heads are of bone for wild fowl, or bone tipped with iron for moose or 
deer ; the bow is abont five feet long, and that of the Hong-Kutchin is furnished 
with a small pirce of wood, three inches long by one and a half broad and 
nearly one thick, which projects close to the part grasped by the hand. This 
piece catches the string and prevents it from striking the hand, for the bow is 
rot bent much. There are no individuals whose trade it is to make spears, 
bows, or arrows. They make knives out of 8-inch or 10-inch files ; these are long 
and narrow, pointed and double edged; one side has a ridge running from the 
handle to the point, the other side is slightly hollowed. The blade and handle 
are made of the same piece of steel, and that part grasped by the hand is covered 
withdressf d 
deer- skin, 
and the top 
of the han- 
dleis curved. 
They have 

no means of Kutcliin knife. 

spmning. They weave kettles of tamarack roots, shirts of strips of rabbit- 
skin, and caps of the same material. For dyeing they use berries and a kind 
of grass growing in swamps. Foxes, martens, wolves, and wolverines are 
caught in traps; moose 
deer, lynxes, rabbits, 
and marmots are taken 
in snares. The general 
mode of killing moose 
is to stalk them. In 
the spring they some- 
times run them down 
on snow-shoes, and in 
the fall, when the 
moose are rutting, the 
hunter provides him- 
self with a shoulder 
blade of the same ani- 
mal ; he then ap- 
proaches the male as 
close as possible, fftid 
rubs the bone again-^t 
the trees. The moose 
charges at once, mis- 
taking the sound foi 
that made by another 
male rubbing his hoins 
against the trees. 

They sometimes sur- 
round an island where 
the moose are known 
to be, and kill them 

Marten trap. 

Note. — The marten trap is adjusted as shown in the figure. It consists of two longf sticks 
of wood, the end of one held above the other by a short upright piece, the lower end of which 
rests on the end of a short horizontal twig carrying the bait. An enclosure of brush or twigs 
is built up behind the bait, so that the only access to it is between the logs. When the bait 
is touched the horizontal twig is disturbed, the upright is thrown down, and the upper stick 
falls, crushing the animal. The short logs laid over the stick serve to secure sufiScient weight 
to kill the marten. 





OF BRITISH AND EUSSIAN AMERICA. 



323 




when they run out on the ice or plunge into the river, though this mode is 
very seldom used, the general way being to stalk them. 

Deer are chased on snow-shoes, the hunter loading and firing as he runs. 

They also make deer pounds, and kill numbers of deer at a time in them, with 

snares, pf which there are several hundred in one pound. When there are a 

large number of Indians together, they sometimes surround a herd of deer. 

^^_ ^ _ . ^ ^_ They kill fish in bars, terminating 

^. '*^"*^ <.=i^«s5,,=:;£^^„_ rr^r^- =,=, .^ a basket, by the side of which is a 

^j^ stage upon which the fisherman stands. 

The bars and the basket are made 
of willows, bound together with ba- 
biche, (deer parchment,) wetted and 
cut into lines, and then dried, and ai^ 
fiistened to poles driven into the bed 
of tlie river. The basket is nine or 
ten feet long, by about four broad; 
the mouth reaches to the bottom, and 
the other end floats on the top of the 
Fishing stage and basket. water. When the fish enter the 

mouth of the basket they are immediately pushed to the upper end of it with 
scoops, made like rackets for playing tennis ball, and then killed with a blow 
of a stick. When the basket gets inconveniently full, the fish are carried to the 
shore in a canoe. 

The Hong-Kutchin have another way, but this is only used for killing the 
big salmon, while the bar is for the smaller fish, such as pike, white fish, &c. 
The largest salmon weighs from forty-five to fifty pounds, the smaller from 
eighteen to twenty-five pounds. In salmon fishing a stage is erected on the 
bank of the river, and a man stationed upon it gives notice when a salmon 
is passing ; this he knows by the ripple it makes when ascending the strong cur- 
rent. The other men, each in the mid<lle of his small canoe, push out, all 
provided with a bag at the end of a pole; the bag is about five teet deep, and 
has an oblong frame around its mouth three feet long by one broad ; the pole is 
eight or nine feet long. The Indian paddles his canoe in front of the fish, and 
pushes his net to the bottom right in front of it ; as soon as the salmon enters 
the bag the man pulls it to the surface and stabs the fish with a knife fastened 
to a pole about five feet long; he then either lifts the salmon into his canoe, or 
drags it ashore in the net. 

This mode of killing the salmon requires very great skill in the management 
of the small 
canoe, as will ^5^- — , .,. . . . . ... ..^^, ^^ 

be easily seen 
when I say 
that the canoe 
is flat-bot- 
tomed — i 
about nine feet 
long and one 
broad, and the 
sides nearly 

straight up and down like a wall. The fish makes the water foam when it is 
first hauled up ; if it strikes the canoe it will knock a hole in it ; if it goes under 
the canoe it will upset it ; and as none of the Kutchin can swim, the conse- 
quences might be unpleasant. 

The Taitsick-Kutchin make nets similar to ours in shape, constructed of 
willows instead of twine. The outer bark is scraped off, and the inner taken off 
and twisted into thread. The Youcon Indians do not make this kind of net, 





Kutchin boat. 



324 



NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 



nor do they know how. Their implements for fishing are the bag for salmon, the 

bar for the fish in the small rivers, a hook and a spear. They also make a small 

fish out of bone and hang it upon a line in the water ; when the pike approach it 

they spear them. To make a spear a pole about nine feet long is taken, a 

spike driven into the end, on each side of which is a flexible piece- of bone 

or wood, with a nail or sharp piece of bone attached to it, both pieces of bone 

pointing inwards and upwards. When 

a fish is struck, the two jaws, if I may 

call them so, are forced open, and the 

spike driven into the back of the fish, 

and in jerking up the spear the two Fisb spear. 

nails or pieces of bone in the jaws either stick fast in the sides of the fish or 

meet under its belly, thus preventing it from falling off the spike. The hooks 

are made and baited in the folloAving manner: The pinion of a goose is taken, 

and the smaller bone is sharpened and fastened hook-shape to the larger; a 

piece of fish-skin is cut the shape of a fish and sewed on 

the hook; that part representing the head is at the point of 

the hook; ihat representing the tail is where the bones have 

crossed each other ; a line is then knotted to the larger bone, 

and all is complete. Muskrats are taken in a scoop, after 

breaking the rat-house, and beaver with a gaff or net bag, 

after breaking into their houses, or shot swimming down the 

rivers. 

There are several kinds of berries eaten here, principally 
the cranberry and a kind of blue berry. They also eat a 
kind of root ; I do not know the botanical name for it, but it 
grows on sandy ground, is sweet, and when, roasted tastes 
like parsnips. 

The Kutchin do not practice agriculture at all, and their 
only (lomestic annnals are their dogs, miserable creatures 
no larger than foxes. They do not make any intoxicating 
drinks whatever, but are passionately fond of tobacco ; this 
they of course learned from the whites. Most of the Kutchins 
smoke in the same manner that we do, but some of the tribes 

use the same pipe as the Esquimaux, and swallow the smoke. 

has a wooden stem twelve inches long, slightly curved upwards; the bowl is well 
represented by the half of a reel for winding sewing cotton upon, and the hole 
in the pipe is about the same as 
that in the spool. A pipe is of 
this shape ; the bowl is made 
of metal; they do not smoke 
pure tobacco in it, but mix it 
with scrapings of willow. 

The Kutchin still retain the 
bow, which is of the same shape, 
through all the tribes, with the 'Pi^e- 

exception of the small guard in the Hong-Kutchin bow, mentioned before. The 
quiver is the same, and worn under the left arm ; it is furnished with two small 
loops to hold the bow, thus leaving the hunter both hands free to use his gun. The 
arrows are placed in the quiver with the notch downwards. The Kutchin are not 
expert with the bow ; no doubt they were better shots before fire-arms were in- 
troduced among them. The bow is made of willoAv, and will not send an arrow, 
with sufiicient ibrce to kill a deer, more than from fifty to sixty yards. The 
arrows are made of pine. 

Trade. — The Kutcha-Kutchin, among whom the fort is built, are traders ; 
they make very little for themselves, but buy from the other Indians ; their 




Baited fisb book. 
This kind of pipe 




OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 325 

standard is called a nakieik, (bead clotliing;) it cousists of long strings of beads 
joined together at the distance of a foot ; the lines are seven feet long. The whole 
naki eik is equal to twenty-four made beaver, and one of the lines is one or 
ihore beaver-skins, according to the value of the beads. 

Before the arrival of the whites they had no religion, but they believed in a 
Supreme Being who would do good to them, but they knew of no evil spirit. 
One man told me that they had no devil at all before the whites came, They have 
many superstitions. For instance, when the fire made a hissing noise they threw 
in some fat, and asked to be able to kill some animal ; if a crow passed they 
asked it for meat, and promised to share it with the crow. There are several 
rocks that they used to make offerings of beads to, in order that they might be 
able to kill some animal soon. 

Medicine — As they had no i-eligion, so they had no priests, as with the 
southern Indians ; nor had tliey any sacred fire. They had, however, magi- 
cians, who could do Avonderful things. If you were to believe their own story, 
they could make wind, prophesy, and when a storm of rain was coming, by 
putting their medicine bag on a pole at the side of the lodge next to the storm, 
they could make the clouds turn and the rain fall in another place. 

The medicine man, whose profession it is, or, rather, who professes to cure 
all diseases whenever he pleases, is rather an important man among them. His 
treatment consists of singing barbarous songs over the sick person and perform- 
ing all kinds of antics ; he is also a magician ; in fact, there is little or no differ- 
ence between them. They practice blood-letting also, ad llhitum, and for every 
complaint, from a headache to a pain in the big toe. As for plants, they have 
no knowledge of them whatever, except one which they eat and another which 
is poison ; this last is never used for any purpose. 

Government. — They are governed by the same chiefs in peace and in war. 
The authority of a chief is very limited, for the Indians are very unruly, and 
not at all disposed to -submit to authority. The chiefs are chosen either on ac- 
count of their wisdom or courage, and not at all on account of birth. They 
have no insignia of office, and as for privileges they have all that they can take, and 
none that the others can withhold from them. The chiefs and old men are all 
who are entitled to speak in council, but any young man will not hesitate 
to get up and give his seniors the benefit of his wisdom. 

Law. — They have no law ; or, rather, the injured party takes the law in his own 
hand. For theft, little or no punishment is inflicted ; for adultery, the woman 
only is punished, being beaten and sometimes thrown off by her husband, and 
instances are not wanting of the woman being put to death ; for murder, the 
friends or relations of the murdered man revenge his death ; but if a medicine 
man is paid to kill him, and the man happens to die, the medicine man is inno- 
cent, and the one who paid him is the guilty one. 

Social life. — Slavery is practiced among them. Any poor creature who has 
no friends is made a slave. Female chastity is prized, but is nearly unknown. 
The treatment of women by their husbands is very bad ; they are, in fact, little 
better than slaves. If a Kutchin is eating he does not allow his wife to eat 
with him, but after he is satisfied ho throws her some meat just as he does to his 
dogs. She cuts and hauls his fire-wood ; she hauls his lodge, kettles, and 
property when the camp is moved ; sh-e hauls the meat to the camp in winter 
and carries it in summer. During the warm weather she dries the meat, carries 
him water, makes his clothes, laces his snow-shoes, and, indeed, does all the 
drudgery of the camps ; but in travelling the men do a little — just a little ; 
they go before, making a track, and stop at such a place as they think the 
women will be able to reach about nightfall. They choose a level place just 
lai'ge enough for a lodge, scrape off the snow, line it with pine brush, cut some 
few armfuls of dry willows, and the women put up the lodge when they arrive. 



326 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OE CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 

The meu always cook. If a wife will not obey her husband -she gets a good 
beating. Children are generally well treated by their parents. 

They have no regular festivals, but when a man of consequence dies his 
friends make a dance, as the whites call it, in his honor. A space some twenty 
yards square is railed in, a fire lighted in the middle, and various games are 
played, such as putting a pole across the fire, one party trying to push the 
other to one end of the enclosure, or one takes a dressed deer-skin and runs 
off with it ; tlie fellow, if he is nearly caught, drops the skin, when anotheV 
takes it and is chased by all the rest in his turn. At last the deer-skin is seized 
by as many as can find room to take hold ; it is then cut up, each retaining the 
piece in his hand. Sometimes bladders of grease are used instead of deer-skin. 
Now and then they all gather in the enclosure, and, standing round the fence, 
sing mournful songs and make speeches. This continues for ten or twelve days, 
when the fence is thrown down, and the beads and other things provided by 
the person making the daiice are divided, each person receiving a present in 
proportion to his rank ; but this present is not entirely gratis, for some months 
afterwards the giver will come and say : " I gave you thirty ' made ' beaver ; 
pay me fifteen and keep fifteen;' which has to be done, of course. The same 
way when a person dies, if he is a great man among them. Four men make 
his grave, or, rather, either burn him or hang him up in a coffin. These four 
are paid as follows : The first gets thirty, and pays ten made beaver ; the next 
twenty-five, and pays ten ; the next fifteen, and pays five ; the next twelve, 
and pays three. The coffin, when the body was to be buried that way, was 
supported upon a stage, with a knife, bow and. arrows, a flint fastened to a stick, 
a stone to strike it on to make fire, and a piece of the fungus that grows on a 
birch tree for tinder, with some touch-wood also. The body was dressed in the 
best they had and painted, and was placed in the coffin with the various things 
mentioned above. The men who made the grave or buried tjie corpse lived 
apart for two moons. A man was put on the stage if he was well liked ; and 
they used to burn them to keep the maggots from eating the corpse. 

There is no ceremony observed at marriage or birth. A man will sometimes 
take a small girl ten or twelve years old for his wife ; but this is merely a pre- 
caution to secure her, as she cannot live wiih him as a wife at that age. A man 
may take a wife of the same band to which he himself belongs ; but if he take 
a wife from another tribe, the children belong to the tribe of their mother. 

A woman must live apart from her husband during her monthly terms. They 
are in the same lodge, but a partition made of willow is between them. A 
young woman must live entirely apart in a separate lodge during her first two 
terms, or she will spoil the hunting of the men. All the Kutcliin are divided 
into three castes, culled, respectively, Tchit-che-ah, Tenge-rat-sey, and Nat- 
sah-i. It used to be customary for a man belonging to one of these castes to 
take a wife from one of the others, but this has fallen into disuse. 

With the Kutchin the father takes his name from his son or daughter, not 
the son from his father, as with us. The father's name is formed by the addi- 
tion of the word tee to the end of the son's name ; for instance, Que-ech-et may 
have a son, and call him Sah-neu. The father is now called Sah-neu-tee, and 
his former name of Que-ech-et is forgotten. They sometimes change a woman's 
name from Toat-li to Sah-neu-behan, or Sah-neu's mother. 

War. — The murderers — it would be ridiculous to call them warriors — array 
themselves in paint and put three eagle feathers in their hair. Before setting 
out they join in a dance similar to the one for the dead ; but at the end of it the 
men get into a line on one side and the women on the other ; the men then run 
at the women, the latter lie down, the men jump over them, and the man who 
falls will be killed in the fight. The dance over, the party set out, killing every- 
thing they meet — foxes*, crows, and every living tiling — so that it may not give 
notice of their approach. When they meet the enemy they pretend to be very 



OF BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. 327 

great friends. .After some time — perhaps days after their arrival — they seize 
the opportunity when their hosts are off their guard and plunge their knives 
into their hearts. Their weapons were the bow, arrow and knife. They mur- 
dered men, women, and children, except such of the women as took the fancy 
of their brutal conquerors, whom they took and treated no worse than the 
women of their own tribe. 

They have no knowledge of scalping, nor do they shave their heads. 

The changes introduced among them by the whites are as follows : 

Tiiere is far less murdering than in former times. The women do not kill 
their female infants. The young men do not strangle their parents when they 
are too old to be of service, and become a burden upon them. 

They use the gun instead of the bow in hunting, and iron axes and knives 
instead of stone, and they treat their women better. 

I forgot to mention in the proper place, that in war, when a man kills his 
enemy, he cuts all his joints. 



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